The present invention relates to an apparatus, and method for its use, which can easily extract large utility-type poles from an embedded location in the earth.
Nothing is forever. So it is with utility poles, billboard pole supports, and other uses of large wooden poles embedded in the earth. Utility poles, such as those that carry electrical and telephone service lines, frequently need to be removed for any one of a number reasons. For instance, the pole may be so old it has lost structural integrity and needs to be replaced for safety reasons. Also, poles are typically removed when utilities are being placed underground or when the space formerly occupied by the pole is needed for building, roadways, etc. Likewise, when such large wooden poles are used for other purposes, such as in the erection of large billboards, they may need to be removed for the same reasons.
Prior to the present invention, when a pole (as used hereinafter, the term "pole" is intended to mean any large, elongate, usually tapered shaft--on the order of 18 inches in diameter and at least 20 feet in length--which is in embedded in the earth and used as a support structure, either for utility lines, billboards, large-area lighting, etc.) needed to be removed, one of the following methods was typically employed:
a. An auger truck is backed up to the pole to be removed, and the boom is secured to the pole. By making repeated upward jerks with the boom, some poles, if not too tightly impacted, could be removed. However, this method is extremely disadvantageous in that it places severe stress on the most expensive equipment typically owned by utility or sign companies--the auger truck.
b. A pilot hole is drilled with an appropriately sized auger immediately adjacent the pole to be removed, which is then pushed or pulled into the adjacent hole, and thereafter pulled out with the boom on the boom truck. While this method works reasonably well in rural areas, it presents many problems and hazards if attempted in an urban setting, where underground utilities, pavement, etc., can limit its use. Also, after having extracted a pole by this means, it is thereafter difficult to insure that a new pole placed in the original hole will be firmly held in place, as the hole is, in effect, twice as big as was necessary.
c. The third method, and in many instances the one preferred by many individuals pulling large poles, is a pole puller such as that identified by part number H4910, manufactured and sold by Fairmont Hydraulics of Fairmont, Minn. This device comprises an hydraulic cylinder mounted to a base, with the cylinder aligned vertically adjacent the pole to be removed. The cylinder is affixed to the pole at the top and bottom of the cylinder with a chain wrapped around the pole. Repeated actuations of the cylinder permit the pole to be extracted in small increments. The major problems with such apparatus are:
1. the chains slip, thereby making extraction of some poles very difficult;
2. the chains must be unwrapped from the pole prior to each downward (return) stroke of the cylinder, thereby increasing the time required for extraction;
3. the device cannot be used on a pole having conduits from the pole into the ground which are to remain, since the pressure of the chains wrapped around the pole might crush or pull out the conduits;
4. it is difficult to obtain sufficient pulling power with a single cylinder aligned parallel with the pole; and
5. the base is so small that in many cases the base is forced into the ground rather than the pole being extracted.
Faced with these difficulties, many companies have chosen to cut off the pole and leave a "stump" in place, finding it to be less expensive to purchase a new pole rather than attempting to extract the old pole and reuse it. This is obviously a wasteful practice and not a preferred method if a reasonably practicable alternative is available.
It is therefore an object of this invention to overcome the aforementioned difficulties, and provide a pole-pulling apparatus which is easy to operate by a single person, is capable of extracting all conventional poles, and is relatively simple in construction.